The Masked Skaters: Winter Carnival Masquerades.
The Rossland Museum & Discovery Centre is proud to introduce you to one of the most popular original Winter Carnival events:
Welcome to the Masquerade! On Ice!
While the Winter Carnival had to be scaled back this year, we wanted to help bring a little more Carnival spirit to downtown Rossland. The masquerades on ice were some of the most popular and colourful events at Rossland’s early winter carnivals. What started as a fun event to close the 1898 Winter Carnival, soon blossomed into one of the most well-attended events. By the next year, the masquerade became the opening event for the Carnival.
To participate was simple – you just needed a costume, skates, and of course a mask. The event was open to the public, although spectators did pay a higher admission. The “merry masqueraders” skated from 8:00-9:30pm, while the judges made their decisions. After the prizes were dispersed and the contestants had de-masked, spectators were welcomed to join in on the skating.
Our resident love birds decided to attend the masquerade this year!
Our interpretation of the early Kellogg’s Cornflakes’ mascot - the Sweet Heart of the Corn!
With upwards of 200 contestants at some of the masquerades, there were definitely some costumes that were more common than others. However, it was often the unique costumes that captured the attention of the judges. There were six main prize categories - women, men, girls, boys, and couples (both adult and young). Although as the masquerades continued new categories like best comic character were added.
The event was so popular with Rosslanders that masquerades on ice were held throughout the winter months. The masquerade was also one of the only Winter Carnival events that carried on after the Winter Carnival ended in 1917.
While no longer part of the Winter Carnival festivities, the merry masquerader’s spirit has been preserved and is embodied by all who partake in the Winter Carnival each year. We don’t know what the future holds, but maybe masked skaters could grace the Rossland Winter Carnival once again.
A huge thank you to Trinda and Curiosity Clothing & Gifts for their continued support of our outreach display program. We would also like to thank the Rossland Light Opera Players for assisting with the props for this exhibit. We really couldn’t do these exhibits without our amazing community partners!
